Bottle capper



March 31, 1925.

M. M. ENGEL BQTTLE CAPPER and llarch 27. 1924 avwcwco o Patented Mar. 31, 1925 UNITED STATES 1,531,740 PATENT OFFICE.

MARCUS M. ENGEL, 0F BRIDG-EPDRT, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOB 0F O'NEJ-IALE TO MAX ZIGUM, 0F BRIDGEPORT, CONNECTICUT.

BOTTLE CAPIPER.

Application filed March 27, 1924. Serial No. 702,205.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, MARCUS M. ENGEL, a citizen of the United States, residing at Bridgeport, county of Fairfield, State of Connecticut, have invented a new and useful Bottle Capper, of which the following is a specification.

An object of this invention is to provide an improved bottle capper, particularly for manual operation, which will be very simple in'construction involving a minimum number of parts, which will be strong in construction so that it is not liable to be easily gotten out of order or broken and which may be easily and quickly assembled or disassembled without any machining operations whatever. It may thus be manufactured at low cost, and may be easily and quickly assembled for use and disassembled for shipping or storing.

l/Vith the foregoing and other objects in view, I have devised the construction illustrated in the accompanying drawing showing the preferred embodiment of my invention, and which drawing forms a part of this specification. In this drawing,

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of my improved capper showing the method of use.

Fig. 2 is a front elevation looking from the right of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a top plan view.

Fig. 4c is a transverse'section substantially on line 4."I of Fig. 3, but showing the lever in an upright position.

Fig. 5 is a front elevation looking from the left of Fig. 4 and with the rack bar removed.

Fig. 6 is a side elevation of the block and lever removed from the rack bar and showing the first movement in the operation of removing the lever from the block.

Fig. 7 is a similar view showing the final movement in removingthe lever from the block, and

Fig. 8 is a detailed sectional view the mounting for the lever.

My improved bottle capper comprises a rack bar 10 including a. rack having suitable teeth 11, and preferably having spaced supporting elements 12 at its lower endconnected by a cross bar 13 for securing the rack bar to a suitable support, such as a showing bench or table, but preferably to a base 14.

This bar may be secured to the base by any suitable means, but the base is preferably provided with a transverse groove 15 in which the cross bar 13 is seated and secured by suitable bolts 16. The separation of the supports 12 allows a portion ofthe'bottle' being operated on to extend betweenrthem',

and thus the positioning of the bottle nearer to the rack bar, giving greater leverage on the capping device and a more easily operated capper.

Mounted to slide on the rack bar, prefer spaced guides 17 and 18, is

ably by a pair of a block 19 including at its lower side an inverted cup 20 forming the capper adapted these side members, and is provided at its inner end with means for engaging the rack to reciprocate the block and the capper toward and from the bottle. This means preferably comprises a segmental gear 23 meshing with the rack.

I have provided an improved means for mounting this lever so that it may be assembled or disassembled without any ma chining operations, but still will be retained in proper operative position. Forthis purpose the side members 21 of the block are provided on their inner sides with opposed recesses 24 open at one side, preferably to the rear or toward the rack bar, as. shown at 25. The lever is provided with trunnions 26 projecting from opposite sides thereof, and adapted to seat in these recesses and turn therein as the lever is operated. These trunnions are preferably formed in one piece with the lever which may be of'any desired shape, but preferably is I-shaped, as shown as this gives the required strength with a relatively small amount of material. Means is provided for retaining the trunnions in the bearing recesses. For this purpose the side members 21 are pro-' vided on the opposite sides thereof from the open side 25 of the recesses with curved surfaces 27 struck on the arcof a circle substantially concentric with the centers of the trunnions, and the lever is provided with a transverse pin 28 or oneor more lugs projecting laterally from the lever, and adapted substantially to engage the curved surfaces 27 during normal operating of the lever to retain the trunnions in the recesses 24. In order to allow easy insertion and removal of the lever,.the side members 21 are provided with opposed grooves 29 so located that the pin or projections 28 Wlll be brought into alignment therewith only when the lever is given normal operation and after the trunnions 26 have been removed from the recesses 24, as shown in Figs. 6 and 7.

The operation is as follows:

It is apparent that by swinging the free end of the lever up and down the coaction of the segmental gear 23 with the rack 11 will reciprocate the'block carrying the capper 20, and it may be used tovpress the caps over the tops of the bottles. It will also be apparent that this arrangement gives a relatively large leverage ratio so that a relatively small force on the free end of the lever will apply a relatively large force to the cap giving easy operation. During the normal movements of the lever the segmental ear is in mesh with the rack. If it is desired to adjust the block and capper on the rack bar for use on bottles of different heights, all that is necessary is to swing the lever to a substantially vertical position such as shown in Fig. 4. This is an abnormal position, but it will be noted that when in this positionthe segmental gear is out of mesh with the rack, and therefore, the block and capper may beslid along the rack bar to any desired position or removed entirely from the bar. After theblock is removed from the bar the lever may be removed from the block, asshown in Figs. 6 and 7 By first swinging the free end of the lever downwardly about the pin or projections 28 the trunnions 26 are moved out of the recesses 21 through the open sides 25, as shown in Fig. 6. The pin or projections 28 may then be passed through the grooves 29, as shown in Fig. 7, and the lever removed bodily from the block. Of course, in assembling these operations are merely reversed, and it will be apparent that the lever may be placed in or removed from its operative position in the block without any machining operations whatever, or the heading over of a pivot pin as in the usual construction. It will thus be apparent that this whole device is extremely simple, involving a minimum number of parts, and that these parts may be assembled for use or disassembled for storing, shipping or repair by simple operations which may be performed by anyone.

Having thus set forth the nature of my invention, what I claim is:

1. In a device of the character described, a bottle support, a rack bar extending therefrom, a block including a capper slidable on said bar, said block having spaced side members provided with opposed recesses open on their sides toward the rack, and a lever having laterally projecting trunnions seated in said recesses and insertable in and removable from said recesses through the open sides thereof, said lever having a segmental gear adapted to mesh with the said rack.

2. In a device of the character described, a bottle support, a, rack bar extending therefrom, a block including a capper slidable on said bar, said block having spaced side members provided with opposed recesses open toward the rack, a lever having laterally projecting trunnions seated in said recesses, said lever having a segmental gear adapted to mesh with the said rack, one of the side members of the block being provided with a curved surface on the opposite side from the rack substantially concentric with the center of oscillation of the lever, and a pin carried by the lever coacting with said curved surface during normal operation of the lever to retain the trunnions in said recesses.

3. In a device of the character described, a bottle support, a rack bar extending therefrom, a block including a capper slidable on said bar, said block having spaced side members provided with opposed recesses open toward the rack, a lever having laterally projecting trunnions seated in said recesses, said lever having a segmental gear adapted to mesh with the said rack, one of the side members of the block being provided with a curved surface on the opposite side from the rack substantially concentric with the center of oscillation of the lever, and a pin carried by the lever coacting with said curved surface during normal operation of the lever to retain the trunnions in said recesses, the said side member of the block being also provided with a slot for passage of said pin to allow removal of the lever from the block.

4. In a device of the character described,v

a bottle support, a rack bar extending upwardly therefrom, a block including a capper slidable on said bar, said block comprising spaced side members provided with opposed recesses open at one side thereof, a lever having trunnions on opposite sides thereof and adapted for insertion in the open sides of said recesses, one of the side members being provided with a curved surface on the opposite side of its recess from the open side, means carried by the lever coacting with said curved surface to retain the trunnions in the recesses, and means carried by the lever coacting with the rack to reciprocate the block on the bar.

5. In a device of the character described, a bottle support, a rack bar extending upwardly therefrom, a block including a capper slidable on said bar, said block comprising spaced side members provided with op posed recesses open at one side thereof, a trunnions in the recesses, said side member lever having trunnions on opposite sides being also provided With'a groove for pas- 10 thereof and adapted for insertion in the open sage of said securing means to allow removal sides of said recesses, one of the side memof thelever from the block, and means carli bers being provided with a curved surface ried by the lever coacting with the rack to on the opposite side of its recess from the reciprocate the block on the bar. open side, means carried by the lever coact- In testimony whereof I aflix my signature. ing with said curved surface to retain the I MARCUS M. ENGEL. 

